Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-05-26
THE TREASURY ATTIC.
PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES or ITS
CURIOUS SIGHTS.
Millions Of Files and Acres OF Old Rec
ords-The Octogenarisn Clerk-The
Government Assayer-weighinga Hair.
Testing OleOmargarine.
Especial CorrespondenceJ T

| Abe6y0 w tl&ulnK HAIR
Testing Oleomargarine.
/ Especial Correspondencel
e -k-s.. WASHINGTON. May IS.
Just below the White House and one mile
down the avenue from the Capitol rises the
| gloomy structure known as the United States
treasury. 1t has many columns along its
front and sides, and it looks for all the world
as IL it was tho sarcophagus of some great
| giant of the time of the mastodons. Its
stones are discolored with the weather OF two
| generations, and its massiveness makes it as
| gloomy as tomb. The doors Of the base
ment appear to be cut into the walls, and as
you enter You feel as though you were going
into a prison. Within you find your sur
roundings much like those of the catecombs,
and the passages go in SO many directions
that one might easily get lost and wander for
some time before finding his way out Here
| one may find many strange things which the
outside world never dreams Of. He would
see other industries going on than those of
money making and money keeping, and he
might study half dozen trades in the lower
basement, and have his meals served at the
restaurant Of this treasury city.
So
For tho treasury is city indeed Its every
part is honey combed with industry. and
from basement to attic it is filed with strange
characters and curious sights. In this letter
wish to treat OF the attic Alone It ia wav
up under the roof, and it composes two acres
OF floor, upon which the feet of visitors
rarely tread. 1t Is lighted by little windows
looking out of the deep walls, and it is cut up
into rooms, halls and corridors. the most OF
which are packed with records and doom
ho p,ov Init o.
ury department during the past 100 years are
carefully kept, and to-day as 1 walked
through wall after wall OF files it seemed to
me that l covered miles in going I'D one
aisle and down another. There were thops-
ands Of bank notes. millions of reports. and
millions OF accounts showing the labors of
thousands, year after year, since the govern
ment was founded. As looked at the tons
OF careful writing could not help thinking
OF the brains and muscle represented by |
them. There is enough manuscript here. T |
should judge to carpet the state of New |
York, and fully half of it is made I'D Of fip- |
ures. Every line of these millions upon mil |
lions OF papers consumed certain amount of |
muscle in its writing, and here is represented
the life works of an army now dead. The in
ternal revenue records alone comprise enough
old paper to keep the Holyoke mills busy for
ever granted are here. OF the letters re-
ceived and those sent by the different com
missioners. the records of all the department
throughout its history are here properly in
dexed and laid away
The files of the secretary proper have n
hall to themselves, large enough almost for a
baseball ground, and the walls or files in this
hall contain II, 900 file boxes. Two walls of
files contain the certificates of deposit of all
the national banks of the country. also the
important papers which make the assistant
lreasurers OF the United States responsible
Tor the millions of money which they receive
Here met a little old man, who told me he
had been in the TREASURY denartment over
years, and as looked on him thought
he was fit accompaniment to the old, vel
iow' m'lsty records he was guarding. He sat
al little square table, between two walls of
papers running up to the ceiling. His eyes
We're small and sharp, his hair iron gray. and
slightly bald at the top. His coat was little
worn, as, indeed, was everything about him.
He pointed to the two walls of paper which
make up the narrow room where he lives
away his life, and said:
49, .
"Those papers represent billions Of dollars
n those two walls are the certificates of deposit
Il nearly all the money the treasury owns
there is a single paper in that box over there
Which represents IS, 100000 It belongs to a
ank in New York. Oh, my boyi there is
Millions in it! there is millions in it! hal ha
md he laughed dry parchment laugh as "
e made his little joke "a
$50 you have been the treasury long @
ime" sid I. W
YES" replied he, ~ came in with Andrew y
ackson as a messenger, and have been here y
yer since. These fifty years l have grown
ray in the treasury service, and now thew 8,
ak OF examining me to see whether am fit u
o be here. The other clerks are studying O.
geography and arithmetic, but l think it is =
20 late for me to begin, ha! hal" 4
But here my guide led me away, and left
he old clerk watching these hundreds of =,
niions and paid perhaps a salary of $1,000
year. Il
next visited the assay office; for the gov r
rnment has an assay office located in the
reasury department-and here, away out of u
ne sight of all, the coin of the mint is tested "
nd analysed. If found to be of full value, IL
nearly so. they are allowed to be issued
not, they are not The government assayer. y
ir. Lower, young man with a heavy l.
ionde mustache, high, pale forehead and "
intellectual aud scholarlike air, has full ~
- - -y-NI- d
.r1 ,EZE l= s.
"a IA ): !: